Field of the Invention
The present principle generally relate to resetting of an electronic device, and particularly, to resetting of an electronic device to factory default of settings if a reset button is pressed for more than a certain amount of time such as, e.g., ten seconds. The amount of time the reset button is pressed is monitored by a bootloader program after a reboot of the processor. The present principles allow the use of the same reset button for two different functions: a normal power off-on reset and a reset to the factory default. The present principles also allow the electronic device to be reset to the factory default even if the main software of the electronic device is locked up (i.e., non-functioning).
Background Information
This section is intended to introduce a reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present principles that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
An electronic device such as a PC, a cellphone, a tablet, a television receiver (including a set top box), and etc., usually includes a way for a user to reset the device. Typically a device may be reset by turning on and off the power supply to the electronic device. This is described as a normal power off-on reset as used herewith. After the normal power off-on reset, the device will be rebooted and user-entered settings stored in persistent memory such as ROM will stay the same and are not erased. On the contrary, there is also a factory default reset, which will reset the electronic device back to the settings provided at the factory before any user customization of the device. The factory settings of an electronic device are also the same settings as when the device is sold or shipped to an end user.
Booting (or booting up) is an initialization of a computerized system. A computerized system may be an electronic device such as a computer or a processor-controlled consumer electronic device. The booting or boot of an electronic device is complete when the normal, operative, runtime environment is attained. A bootloader program of an electronic device is the first program which executes (before the main program) whenever a system is initialized, booted or rebooted. In a personal computer (PC), it is first booted up and is then used to boot up and load the main program which is the operating system of the PC. Similarly, in the case of an electronic device such as a video receiver, a bootloader program boots and loads the main control program of a processor of the electronic device. The main program, once loaded, would then control the various components and functions of the electronic device in the normal, operative, runtime environment.